Thousands of scientists around the world ask to declare the “climate emergency”

More than 11,000 scientists around the world warned today that “unparalleled human suffering” is inevitable unless there are radical changes in human activity to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and other factors that contribute to climate change.

“Scientists have a moral obligation to warn humanity about any great threat. Based on the information we have, it is clear that we are facing a climate emergency,” Thomas Newsome of the University of Sydney in Australia said in a paper published in the journal BioScience.

The scientists analyzed information collected and published over more than 40 years on energy use, land surface temperatures, population growth, crop extent, deforestation, polar ice loss, fertility rates, carbon dioxide emissions and the gross domestic product of nations.

Since the First Climate Change Conference, held in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1979, scientists who have participated in similar assemblies have cited the threat of climate change and warned governments and corporations about the need to take action to moderate it.

The paper, which focuses on actions to reduce the damage caused by climate change, includes indicators that researchers describe as “vital signs” related to that change and areas that require immediate global action.

Experts point out as a positive fact the growing awareness in all layers of society

Some of these indicators of human activity are positive, such as declining birth rates and the increasing uptake of renewable energy sources. But most indicators paint a bleak picture, including the growing population of livestock for human consumption, forest loss, and carbon dioxide emissions.

The authors expressed hope that these “vital signs” will guide governments, the private sector and the general public to “understand the magnitude of this crisis, monitor progress and rearrange priorities to mitigate climate change.”

These goals “will require enormous transformations in the way our global society works and its interaction with natural ecosystems,” the statement said.

The signatory scientists emphasized six objectives: energy sector reform, reduction of short-lived pollutants, restoration of ecosystems, optimization of the food system, the establishment of a carbon dioxide-free economy and a stable human population.

Despite the breadth of their concerns and the magnitude of the efforts they demand, the scientists expressed some optimism in mentioning “a recent increase in attention to this problem.”

“Government agencies make declarations of climate emergency,” they said. “Schoolchildren strike. Courts process claims for environmental damage. Citizen movements demand change and many countries, states and provinces, cities and companies respond,” they added.

Source: The Vanguard